This invention relates to a fruit harvester which is particularly but not exclusively designed for harvesting small berries such as cranberries which grow on vines lying across the ground.
One example of a harvester of this general type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,047 of the present inventor and the present application is directed to a number of improvements over this device which are designed to improve the picking process.
The above patent discloses an arrangement including a plurality of forwardly extending tines which are oscillated so that the tines move substantially vertically at their forward ends to lift the berries away from the vine. A suction duct is positioned above the tines and provides an open mouth from which duct extends vertically. The berries separated from the vine are thus sucked away by the vertical suction duct and carried to a container. It has been found that this arrangement, while generally satisfactory, has a number of disadvantages. Firstly the vertical movement of the tines is unsatisfactory and provides an excessive pulling force on the vines. Secondly, transverse vines remain looped over the tines and are thus pulled by the forward movement of the tines. This can lead to excessive pulling force on the roots of the vines tending to rip the vines from the ground and cause damage to the plant. Furthermore, the berries can roll forwardly of the tines at locations where the number of berries is reduced due to a bare spot in the vine so that the berries can simply roll beyond the front end of the tines and are lost to the ground.
Further examples of harvesters of this general type are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,623,309 (Stang), 2,607,180 (Stankavich), 924,552 (Holmes), 2,544,443 (Brateng), 2,696,706 (Getsinger), 2,732,677 (Nielsen), 2,915,871 (Furford) and 2,459,471 (Tebbetts).
Furford discloses a device of this general type including a cutting knife arrangement with a blade reciprocated by an eccentric lever action within a cutting tube. The blade cooperates at a lower end with a slot in the tube and with a raised fin along the top of a horizontal tine. This picking action is unsatisfactory in that the tines do not provide an effective separation of the fruit from the vines. The cutting action of the sliding blades is complex and mechanically inefficient.
Tebbets discloses a device of this general type including an inclined duct above inclined tines with edge nozzles positioned within the duct so as to push the fruit up the incline defined by the tines to move the fruit to the rear within a suitable container. The edge nozzles are used simply to roll the fruit along the inclined duct and uses a replacement for a vacuum system. This arrangement is unsatisfactory in that it requires a machine which is very low with the container immediately rearward of the inclined tines. This significantly reduces the capacity and interferes with the location of the operator.